Saturday, April 6, 2013

From Deadline Hollywood:
After the failed week long experiment of (Get To) The Point and the unsteady The Lead With Jake Tapper, Jeff Zucker is looking for a blast from the past to revive CNN. The ratings-struggling cable new network is bringing back Crossfire in June, network insiders tell me. No hosts have been chosen yet, the sources say. Nor is it clear if the show will definitely remain a half hour, as the original Crossfire was, or go longer. Right now it seems that Crossfire 2.0 is slated to have a variety of CNN personalities and contributors taking up the “left” and “right” roles on the new version of the political debate show. A CNN standard almost from the begining, Crossfire ran on the network in both daytime and primetime from 1982 until it was cancelled in 2005. Crossfire isn’t the first piece of CNN history Zucker has brought back since taking over in January. The former Today show producer reinstalled James Earl Jones’ traditional “This is CNN” promo voiceover in his first week in his new gig.

All the famous TV news images that pop into your mind - fall of the Berlin Wall, Challenger explosion, 9/11 etc etc all happened in the real world.

But Zucker has never been a field producer.

Never been a reporter.

Never covered stories first hand at the places where they actually happened.

So he just doesn't get it (neither did Walton).

He will revamp shows and anchors -- but that's not a news audience wants.

That silly show 'The Point' - when you add up the staff and production costs - easily cost over one million dollars to launch.

Just think of what that $1,000,000 could have otherwise bought --- a series on poverty in America (like Diane Sawyer) or some hard hitting interviews (like 60 Minutes) or coverage across Africa (like Al Jazeera), or inside like North Korea (like AP).

@2:06am, Very well said - I totally agree. By the way, Soledad repeatedly pitched an idea to do a Poverty in America doc series and they shot it down. Then Zucker fired her. I am just waiting for AJA to launch.